We talk about sex and sexuality

Her: Topic #2

This week’s topic can be controversial to many people, but not to me. I think that intersex individuals are just as “normal” as a person with strictly female or male “features”. In reality you could think of them as even more beautiful, since the term hermaphrodite comes from a god and a goddess of sexuality, love, and beauty.

With that said, if I were to be a parent of a child born with one of the mentioned intersex conditions I would not choose one gender for the child. I would wait until they are old enough to decide for themselves. It would probably be more difficult while they were growing up, people will most likely ask if it’s a boy or girl, will want to know what names you are thinking of naming them, and will want to know whether to buy pink or blue. I would probably respond by choosing a gender-neutral name such as Jess, Devon, Riley, Peyton, Jamie, or one of the other many choices. As for pink or blue, I would say green!

People in society seem to be so obsessed with the gender binary of male and female, but why? If the individual is happy with whom they are, as an intersex individual, why do people care what gender they identify as?

In direct response to “some health care professionals will swear that the best course of action is for the parents to choose a sex for their child and allow an operation to take place that would define their gender,” why should the parents have the privilege of deciding? The child may end up realizing they feel more like the other gender, or they may end up feeling more androgynous (combination of masculine and feminine characteristics). If the parents choose wrong, the child may end up feeling even more confused.

This is just my opinion on the matter. Just last week an organization at my school that I am a part of played the film Orchids: My Intersex Adventures. Unfortunately I missed the film, but I would really jump at the chance of seeing it because I hear it portrays the topic of intersex accurately.